Articles
The Fruit of the Spirit (Part 2)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit (Galatians 5:23-25).
God is love (1 John 4:8). But what kind of love?
“Love” has such a broad range of meaning that we can accurately speak of our love for ice cream, our love for movies, our love for our children, our love for our wives, and our love for God. The Bible helps us understand more deeply the nature of love that is meant by the fruit of the Spirit.
Jesus said in John 15:13, “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”
Paul said in Ephesians 5:1-2, “Be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, and offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”
Clearly, this is a high form of love, a love characterized by action rather than emotion, a love willing to sacrifice. To love just as Jesus loved is to be willing to love even at great cost to one’s self, even to love one’s enemies. This love is not shown only when one wants to, but it is the commandment of God.
Many of us confuse love with emotion and infatuation. The kind of love demanded of Christians is agape love, which Vine’s Dictionary defines as, “unconditional service or good will. It has nothing to do with the excellency or deservedness or loveliness of the objects. It is not an impulse from the feelings, it does not always run with natural inclinations, it does not spend itself solely on those for whom some affinity has been discovered.”
A Christian must love others even when he doesn’t like them. A Christian must love even his enemies (Matthew 5:43-48). Love, as shown by Christ, is to always have the other person’s best interests in mind. This is harder than it sounds, in those moments when spouses are fighting, when neighbors are bickering, when church members are disappointing each other. The challenge is to ask, “What is best for him?”
This love is the calling card of Christians, who have themselves fully understood the sacrificial love of Christ. Jesus said in John 13:35, “a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, that you have love for one another.”
What did Jesus mean by “a new commandment”? After all, was the commandment to love one another a new commandment? Not really. Love is most certainly commanded in the Old Covenant. God is very consistent throughout His revelation to mankind, from Moses to John. The word “love” is used 132 times in the Old Testament, and the word “lovingkindness” (almost always described as an attribute of God) is used over 175 times. Jesus did not invent the so-called golden rule. Jesus’s statement in Matthew 7:12 is simply an echo of Leviticus 19:18 which says, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
It’s not even that loving unlovable people is a new idea. Love toward objects of scorn is found in the Old Testament, including not taking vengeance (Leviticus 19:18), being mindful of the needy and the stranger (Leviticus 19:10, 34, Deuteronomy 10:19), not hating (Leviticus 19:17, Proverbs 24:17). Paul was not the first to speak of feeding a hungry enemy; he was quoting from Proverbs 25:21–22.
Jesus’ commandment is new, not because it had never been heard before, not because it is directed at a new object. But it is new with respect to the degree to which it is to be shown. It is a command to love one another in a special way, even an extreme way, as Jesus did, to the extent of giving His life for His enemies. In a word, the kind of love Jesus showed is “sacrificial.” That is what makes Jesus’ love brand new, and different than anything that came before. He loved even when every inclination of the flesh told Him to turn away or hate. He loved even when it hurt Him to do so. He loved even when it cost Him something to love. “With humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3).
This has practical application. Love carries on and does what is best even when your spouse gets Alzheimer’s and needs care. Love does what is best even your spouse leaves his socks on the floor. Love does what is best even you’re sorely disappointed ... by your spouse, your friend, your brother in Christ.
Jesus never said, “I don’t love you anymore.” We must instead learn to say, “I’m going to love that person even though he’s given me little reason to love him. Not because he deserves it, not because I want to, but because I love and trust Jesus, and that’s what Jesus would have me do” (see 1 Peter 2:19–24). And much of the time, that loving attitude will effect a change in the loved person!
–John Guzzetta
